There’s no music I love more in the world than Duke Ellington’s. When I was a kid, the New York Transit Museum had a commercial in heavy rotation on local TV that used “Take The A Train” and I remember being riveted by it. I should point out that Billy Strayhorn wrote this tune, not [...]
Filed in Music
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Also tagged andy jaffe, billy strayhorn, charles mingus, duke ellington, jazz, john steinbeck, max roach, remixes, soundcloud, subway, synths, tchaikovsky
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December is always a complex month for half-Jewish mutts like me. When pressured to self-identify, I usually just go with “Jewish” for the sake of simplicity, but this is in spite of not having being bar mitzvahed, not knowing any Hebrew, having only the vaguest idea what all the holidays and rituals mean, and having [...]
Filed in Autobio, Music, Music Theory, Race and Identity
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Also tagged Autobio, blues, dave tarras, history, judaica, klezmatics, klezmer, microtones, naftule brandwein, scales
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Hip-hop isn’t usually big on chord progressions, but “Empire State Of Mind” by Jay-Z and Alicia Keys has an awesome set of changes. Because Alicia Keys was involved, I thought she might have written the chord progression. But no, it’s built from samples of the intro to “Love On A Two-Way Street” by The Moments.
Filed in Composition, Music, Sampling
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Also tagged alicia keys, chords, digging the crates, hip-hop, jay-z, lego, looping, Music Theory, Sampling, songwriting, the moments
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Thursday, February 11, 2010
When I was younger I was obsessed with authenticity in music. I wouldn’t even play electric guitar because it felt too easy, like cheating somehow. I expended a lot of energy and attention trying to figure out what is and isn’t authentic. Now, at the age of 34, I’ve officially given up. I doubt there’s [...]
Filed in Autobio, Music, Race and Identity
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Also tagged acoustic, alicia keys, authenticity, autotune, bebop, big chill, bill monroe, bluegrass, blues, electronica, Emotion, harmonica, herbie hancock, howlin wolf, jay-z, jazz, john coltrane, judaica, klezmer, led zeppelin, lipsynching, michael jackson, motown, purists, rnb, Sampling, soul, synths, thelonious monk
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Kramer is the name my mom’s father’s parents gave at Ellis Island because they thought it they might have an easier time with it assimilation-wise than Garfinkel. In Eastern Europe, if you want a WASP-y sounding name, you usually choose something German rather than British. My mom’s wing of her extended family calls itself the [...]
Filed in Autobio, Emotion
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Also tagged america, anxiety, Autobio, buddhism, confidence, family, fashion, george costanza, judaica, kramer, monkeysphere, obama, seinfeld, synths, tv
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I can’t breakdance. I want to learn. It looks like fun. When I worked for the Parks Department I was involved in their afterschool programs. One of them met in the Alfred E Smith Recreation Center in the housing project of the same name. In the basketball gym, Roc-a-fella (the b-girl, not the record label) [...]
Filed in Dance, Improvisation, Music
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Also tagged breakdancing, dance, disco, electronica, fan art, funk, grandmaster flash, hip-hop, michael jackson, turntablism, youtube
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